1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in vacuum cleaner systems and more particularly, to a vacuum cleaning system which is automatically operable at preselected times and for preselected time intervals requiring little or no manual intervention.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Although electrically operated carpet and rug cleaning vacuum cleaners have been commercially available for more than fifty years, very few significant advances have been made in the art of these vacuum cleaners. The advances made since the inception of the original vacuum cleaner are generally involved in superior motors, better brushes and to a large degree, enhanced aesthetics. However, in essentially all cases, commercially available rug and carpet vacuum cleaners still require a substantial amount of manual attention in both operation and periodic maintenance.
In essentially all cases, one must manually remove the vacuum cleaner from a storage location, such as a garage or a closet, plug the vacuum cleaner into a source of electrical power and physically move the vacuum cleaner across a selected carpet area. When the user has finished cleaning a selected area, the user must then disconnect and wind up the electrical cord and carry the vacuum cleaner to the same storage location. Frequently, the user must remove the debris collection bag and empty the same and then reinstall the bag into the vacuum cleaner. Thus, a great deal of manual intervention is necessarily required in the cleaning of a carpet or a rug.
There has been one proposal for a somewhat automatically operable vacuum cleaner set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,540 dated Aug. 30, 1994 to Soupert, et al. The apparatus in the Soupert, et al. patent, which is described as an autonomous apparatus for the automatic cleaning of ground areas is essentially a preprogrammed, controlled vacuum cleaner operating much in the same manner as a numeric controlled tool or a computer controlled tool. In Soupert, et al., the vacuum cleaner is pre-programmed with a series of instructions stored in a computer memory in the apparatus. The apparatus is then caused to move in a prescribed path and only in that prescribed path relative to a fixed reference beam. In fact, the apparatus can only operate in response to location control from that fixed reference beam.
Although the device in the Soupert, et al. patent does have means for moving on its own stored source of power, it does not have means to exit a housing at a prescribed time and randomly cover an entire carpeted area and does not have other features as for example, recharging, automatically cleaning of the debris from the vacuum cleaner and the like.
There have also been developed in the prior art various types of bumper obstacle detection sensors. One such bumper obstacle detection sensor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,878 dated Nov. 6, 1990 to Pong et al. This obstacle detector system in the Pong et al. apparatus relies upon transceiver directed light beams and reflectors for detecting the presence of an obstacle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,521 dated May 4, 1993 to Aoyama discloses a control system for a self moving vehicle which is actually in the nature of a vacuum cleaner for the cleaning of carpeted areas. However, the Aoyama patent is primarily concerned with the control system itself for purposes of correcting yaw, speed of the device, etc. A complex feedback and error signal control means is used to achieve this precise control. To this extent, Aoyama does disclose a self moving vacuum cleaner, although the vacuum cleaner must move in response to pre-programmed control signals for control of direction and the like, but beyond this is not automatically operable, as such.
There have also been many robotic-type apparatus used for performing a variety of tasks. One such robotic apparatus is described as a robotic decontamination apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,002 dated Sep. 15, 1992 to Hughes. This apparatus is specifically designed to decontaminate an area which would be hazardous to the presence of a human being and thus, must be robotically controlled. However, there has not been any effective robotically controlled vacuum cleaner, or for that matter any vacuum cleaner having automatic features, except for those described herein.
There has been a need for an effective robotic-type cleaning apparatus which can actually operate on its own, without manual intervention, and which will not damage or destroy other furniture or items which may be in the path of the robotic-type cleaning apparatus. Further, there has been a need for an apparatus of this type which would not allow for inadvertent destruction of itself, as for example, by means of falling off of steps, drop-offs, or the like. Such an apparatus would find highly effective use for those parties desiring to clean a selected area while the party may not even be present in that selected area.
A robotic-type cleaning apparatus which is essentially self operating without any substantial manual intervention could be used highly effectively in commercial institutions, such as hotels and the like. In addition, such an apparatus would find highly effective widespread home use in that home users who are occupied, for example, during the daylight hours with school, employment, or the like, could self-program the cleaning apparatus to operate in their absence and without a fear of attendant damage to furniture or other items within the environment.